Printing devices



Sept. 8, 1959 w. A. WAY

PRINTING DEVICES Filed Feb. 25, 195e Invenlo l Wi llnu' A. Wag

United States Patent Oiiice 2,902,928 Patented Sept. 8, 1959 PRINTING DEVICES Wilbur A. Way, Euclid, Ohio, assgnor to Addressograph- Multigraph Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application February 2s, 1956, serial No. 567,158

2 claims. (ci. I1014-569) This invention relates to printing devices of the kind that are sequentially passed through printing machines, such as addressing machines and the like, and which are stored in suitable drawers or other containers when not 1n use.

Printing devices of the aforesaid character usually embody a carrier or frame formed from sheet material. What are called spacing flanges are formed on one of the flat faces of the device and retaining means are afforded on the other face o-f the device. At least one printing plate, having embossed type characters thereon, and also usually an index card, bearing an impression from at least selected of the type characters that are embossed on a plate, are retained on the carrier by the retaining means thereon. Certain of the retaining means for the plate are struck up from the body of the carrier and either cooperate with similarly struck up retaining means, or a bead formed along one edge of the frame, to define a channel into which the printing plate may be slid endwise to be held against movement in a direction normal to the extent of the channel. Moreover, portions of the retaining means and the bead, when afforded, overlie opposite edges of the plate to retain the same against the face of the carrier. In order to hold the plate against endwise movement in a channel of the aforesaid kind, retaining means are afforded on the carrier at opposite ends of the channel and at least one of such retaining means is in the form of an innately resilient depressible tongue. Thus, when a printing plate is to be inserted into a channel on a carrier of the aforesaid character, the tongue is depressed to enable the plate to be slid thereover and when the plate has attained proper position in the channel, the tongue returns to plate retaining position in the plane of the carrier from which it is formed.

Various forms of retaining tongues of the aforesaid character have been employed heretofore. For example, Patent No. 1,026,248 pertains to a yieldable tongue which has at least a part of the end portion thereof bent into normal relation with the tongue to serve as a retention for the adjacent end of the printing plate. Patent No. 1,026,251 pertains to a yieldable tongue which has an embossure struck up from the surface thereof adjacent to the free end thereof which affords a stop or retention for the adjacent end of the plate. Yieldable tongues of the kind disclosed in the aforesaid patents were unsupported in that the carriers or frames of which they were a part did not include any arrangement whereby the extent to which the tongue could be depressed could be limited. However, Patent No. 1,550,259 discloses an arrangement wherein a portion of one of the spacing llanges on the frame is formed to include a part depressed downwardly from the adjacent face of the carrier and this part is aligned with the end of the tongue and affords a stop that is effective to limit the extent to which the tongue can be depressed. This has been found to be desirable in that if the tongue is depressed excessively, the innate resiliency thereof may be so impaired that the tongue may not spring back into proper plate retaining position after a plate has been passed thereover and inserted into a. channel on the carrier or frame. It was found, however, that in the course of handling printing devices of the kind disclosed in Patent No. 1,550,259, that the end of the tongue on one printing device could pass into the pocket afforded by the depressed part in the spacing flange of an overlying printing device so as to thereby prevent the printing devices from being properly aligned in face-to-face relation.

To avoid this difficulty, and yet limit the degree to which a depressible tongue may be depressed, resort has been had to an arrangement such as that shown in Patent No. 1,812,894. In the printing device shown in this patent, the free end portion of the yieldable tongue includes a stepped portion embodying a vertical Wall that affords a stop or retention for the end of the printing plate and an outwardly extending lip that overlies an underlying portion of a spacing flange engaged with the face of the frame or carrier opposite that above which the stepped portion of the tongue extends. The engagement of this lip with this underlying portion of the spacing flange limits the extent to which the tongue can be depressed and the arrangement is such that the tongue cannot be depressed at such a degree as to impair the innate resiliency thereof. lt was found, however, that if the vertically extending wall in the stepped part of the tongue, such as that shown in Patent No. 1,812,894, was at all inclined particularly in a direction outwardly of the main extent of the tongue, or if the corner joining the vertical wall and the free end portion of the tongue became rounded, that then the tongue might not properly perform its retaining function, and in some circumstances it was found that the plate could move longitudinally in the channel into which it had been inserted. To overcome this difliculty resort has been had to an arrangement such as that Yshown in Patent No. 1,929,472. The arrangement to which this patent pertains entails striking a portion from the vertically eX- tending part or wall in the stepped part of the tongue and disposing this struck out portion in alignment with the lip at the end of the tongue so that this portion projected inwardly of the major of the extent of the tongue to thereby afford an abutment against which the edge of the plate to be retained on the carrier or frame could engage to retain the plate against endwise movement. Necessarily such a struck out portion was of restricted area by reason of the limited dimensions of the tongue of which it was a part. In fact, in an endeavor to prolong the abutment area afforded by such a struck out portion it has been endeavored to provide two such struck out portions on a yieldable tongue of the aforesaid nature.

While struck out portions of the aforesaid nature afforded a protracted abutment area on the tongue, it has been observed that the adjacent edge of the plate might sometimes tend to move under the struck out portion and thereby become wedged in the channel in which it was disposed. An even more serious objection to this condition, however, arose by reason of the fact that when a plate became wedged under a struck out portion or portions of the aforesaid nature, the adjacent end portion of the tongue was elevated to lie in a plane sometimes above even the tops of the type characters embossed on the plate. Resultantly, when an impression was made from the type characters, an impression was also made from the outer portion of the tongue which was inducive to producing a rather unsightly condition. In view of such circumstances and kindred conditions which have been encountered in those instances where abutments for engaging the adjacent end of a printing plate are struck out from the vertical wall of the stepped portion of a tongue of the aforesaid nature, it is an important object of this invention to so arrange abutrnents l of the aforesaid character that a printing plate to be engaged thereby will be prevented from passing thereunder.

An vobject aneilliary to the foregoing is to so arrange abutments of the aforesaid nature as to afford relatively prolonged areas adapted for engagement with the adjacent end of a plate so as to thereby afford assurance that a plate will be eifectively retained thereby.

A yet further object of this invention is to afford plate retaining portions or abutments on a yieldable tongue of the aforesaid nature that are inclined transversely of the tongueV of which they are a part so that the abutments Will extend substantially throughout the height of the vertical wall of the tongue from which they are struck so as to thereby effectively preclude the adjacent end of a printing plate to be retained thereby from passing thereunder.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawing which, byway of illustration, shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principle thereof and what I 'now consider to be the best mode in which I have contmplated applying that principle. Other embodiments ofthe invention embodying the same or equivalent principle maybe used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a printing device embodying the present invention;

Fig- 2 isa plan view of the lower right portion of the device as shown in Fig. l, this View being drawn to an enlarged scale as compared with that to which Fig. 1 is drawn;

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken substantially and respectively on the lines 3-3 and 4-4 on Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, corresponding to Fig. 3 but showing the printing plate shown in association with the depressible tongue.

The present invention is embodied in a printing device generally indicated by D in the accompanying drawing and is akin to that disclosed in Patent No. 1,812,894. Thus, the printing device D includes a substantially rectangular frame F formed from sheet material and having spacing anges as FF formed on one face and along shorter edges thereof. A` rolled bead is formed along one of the longer edges of the frame and terminates in spaced relation with the shorter edges of the frame. A plurality of aligned retaining lugs 11 are struck up from the face of the frame in spaced relation with the bead 10 and in `cooperation with the bead form a channel into. which an index card such as C may be slid endwise. In alignment with the lugs 11 and at one end of the aforesaid channel a corner lug 12 is struck up from the face of the frame. This lug includes a portion that overlies a corner of a card disposed in the channel and also portions which extend normal to the face of the frame that engage edges of the card adjacent to the corner thereof that is associated with the retaining lug 12. A stop lug 13V is struck up from the frame F at the end of the aforesaid channel opposite that at which the corner lug 12 is formed and when a card is to be inserted into the channel it is slid thereinto over the lug 13 and when properly disposed in the channel the adjacent edge of the card engages an fupstanding portion of the lug 13. When the card is so disposed it is held against movement in the channel by the bead 10, lug 12, retaining devices 11 and the lug 13.

Other aligned retaining lugs 21 are struck up fromthe face of the frame and include portions that extend normal to the face of the frame F and which. 4also include 4 portions that overly the face of the frame in spaced relation therewith and which extend toward the edge of the frame opposite the edge along which the bead 10 is formed. In the present instance a rolled bead 20 is formed along the edge of the frame opposite that on which the bead 10 is formed and this bead includes a portion which overlies the face of the frame in spaced relation therewith, andthis bead, like the bead 10, terminates in spaced relation with the shorter edges of the frame. The lugs 21 and the bead 20 aord a channel into which a printing plate as P may be slid. The upstanding portions of the lugs 21 and the bead 20 serve to hold the plate against movement in a direction normal to the beads 10 and 20 and the overlying portions of the lugs and bead hold the plate against the face of the frame F. In some instances, a channel such as that just described to receive a plate as P may be atforded by lugs as 21 and a similarly formed set of lugs spaced from the lugs as 21, the latter set of lugs having the portions thereof overlying the face of the frame directed toward the lugs as 21.

Type characters as 9 are embossed on a plate as P prior to the insertion of the plate into a channel such as that described. Usually an impression is made from at least selected type characters on a plate suoh as P onto the index card as C prior to the time the plate and card are installed on the frame as described above, since so to do facilitates reading data that may be printed from theY type characters which are embossed on the plate in reverse as is conventional in the printing art.

It is essential that a printing plate as P be held against longitudinal movement in a channel such as that described hereinabove adapted, to receive the same, and to this end a retaining lug substantially similar to the retaining lug 13 may be formed at one end of the channel to engage the adjacent end of the plate to thereby hold the same against movement in a longitudinal direction in the channel. In such circumstances a yieldable tongue, to be described in further detail hereinafter, is provided at `the other end ofthe channel and includes portions that are adapted to engage the end ofthe plate opposite that engaged with a stop lug, such as that described, and these portions on the yieldable tongue cooperate with the stop lug to prevent longitudinal movement of the plate in the channel aorded therefor on the face of the frame. A depressible tongue, such as that just referred to, is provided atV one end of the channel that is to receive the printing plate so that the same may be pressed downwardly when a relatively inflexible printing plate is to be inserted into the channel therefor. However, after a plate has been inserted fully into a channel adapted to receive the same, the trailing end thereof clears retaining portions on the yieldable tongue which thereupon, by reason of the innate resiliency of the tongue, move into position to engage the end of the plate to serve the plate retaining function above described.

Ofttimes, and as shown in Fig. 1, a frame as F has yieldable tongues as25 of the aforesaid nature afforded at each end of a channel that is adapted to receive a printing plate forV so to do enables the plates to be slid into thechannel from either end thereof. It is essential, however, that the retaining portions afforded on tongues as 25 effectively engage the adjacent edge of the plate, for otherwise inthe course of use of the printing devices, the plate may be longitudinally displaced in the channel. As explained hereinabove, resort has been had to various arrangements to insure that the retaining portions afforded on the. tongue will serve this function and the present invention has to do with an improved arrangement which will insure that the retaining devices afforded on the tongue effectively perform the intended function thereof; i

The yieldable tongueV as 25 illustrated in the accompanying drawing is in the general form of the tongue disclosed in Patent No. 1,812,894 in that it includes a bdy portion which, when formed, may be inclined slightly upwardly, as shown in Fig. 3, from the face of the frame F on which a printing plate as P is to be disposed. However, if desired, this portion of the tongue `may be formed to lie in the plane of the carrier in which it is formed. The yieldable tongue as 25 is defined by forming a substantial horeshoe-shaped slot 25S in the frame. Moreover, near the free end of the yieldable tongue as 25, a portion 30 thereof is pressed upwardly and the free end portion 31 of the tongue, outwardly of the portion 30, is disposed parallel to the plane of the adjacent face of the tongue. The bight portion of the slot 25S is formed and disposed to overlie a portion of the spacing flange as FF so that the free end portion 31 of the tongue will overlie this exposed portion of the spacing flange. The engagement of the end portion or lip 31 with this exposed portion of the spacing portion FF limits the degree to which the tongue 25 may be depressed lwhen the printing plate is slid over into a plate receiving channel. This insures that the innate resiliency of the tongue as 25 will not be impaired so that the retaining portion of the tongue can spring up into plate retaining position when the printing plate has been slid thereover and into proper position in the channel adapted to receive the same.

As explained hereinabove, it is essential that the plate engaging portion afforded on a yieldable plate retaining tongue be of such nature that such portion will effectively retain the printing plate to be engaged thereby against endwise movement in the channel into which the plate is inserted. Moreover, as was explained hereinabove, it is desirable that the plate be prevented from passing under `the plate engaging portion or portions in the form of an abutment or abutments afforded on the tongue, and yet further, it is advantageous that the plate engaging abutments be of relatively protracted size so as to afford a comparatively extended engagement surface for the adjacent end of the plate.

Abutments of this nature are afforded in accordance with this invention by striking portions as 26 and 27 inwardly from the upstanding portion of a yieldable tongue as 25. As best shown in Fig. 4, the abutments as 26 and 27 are struck from the portion 30 so as to be inclined transversely of the tongue 25 and, advantageously, the extent of the free edges of these abutments is at least substantially equal to the height of the upstanding portion or vertical wall 30. Moreover, by so inclining the abutments as '26 and 27 it is assured that the end portion of a plate to be engaged thereby will be prevented from passing thereunder. Advantageously the abutments as 26 and 27 are reversely inclined so as to have the upper edges thereof disposed at least substantially in the plane of the top face of the lip 31 and to have the lower ends thereof at least substantially disposed in the plane of the upper face of the main body of the tongue of which they are a part. Moreover, the free ends of the abutments as 26 and 27 are disposed lto be at least substantially normal to the adjacent face of the tongue of which they are a part. So to do affords a positive stop arrangement for engagement with the adjacent end of a plate to be retained thereby. Furthermore, by disposing the lower ends of the abutments in at least substantially the plane of the adjacent face of the tongue a plate to be retained thereby is prevented from passing under the abutments.

It is important that abutments as 26 and 27 be struck from an upstanding portion as 30 in such a way as to insure that there is a complete separation of the metal along lthe side edges of the abutments from the material of which the same are formed. Hence, in the present instance the side edges of the abutments as 26 and 27 are severed from the material affording the portion as 30 prior to the time such abutments are struck from such portion and also prior to the time the same are inclined as aforesaid. So to do results in the lower end of each inclined abutment as 26 and 2.7 being free from the material from which the same is struck and this likewise applies with respect to the upper end of each abutment. Resultantly, at faces at the free end of the abutment are presented to a plate to be retained thereby and such at faces insure effective retention of the plate on the frame.

Consequently, by resort to abutments of 'the aforesaid nature on a yieldable tongue like that described above, the hereinabove set forth and kindred objects and advantages of this invention may be realized. Yet further, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that this is capable of variation and modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

I claim:

l. A printing device of the kind described comprising a frame formed from sheet material and having retaining members on one face thereof affording ya channel into which a printing plate of predetermined thickness may -he passed to be held against the adjacent face of the frame and also against movement on said face in a direction normal to the channel into which the same is inserted, an embossable printing plate `disposed in said channel, other retaining means on the frame at each end of the channel engaged with opposite ends of said plate to retain the same in the channel against longitudinal movement therein and which comprise at least one yieldable tongue formed in the frame, said tongue having a stepped portion at the free end thereof that includes a part which extends angularly upwardly from the adjacent face of the tongue at an obtuse angle thereto and to an extent at least substantially equal to the adjacent end portion of the plate, a lip disposed outwardly of said part that is extended in substantially parallel relation with the main portion of the tongue, and plate engaging means having the side edges thereof severed from the material of which the tongue is formed and struck from said upwardly extending part of the tongue to project inwardly from said lip, said plate engaging means having the free end thereof disposed at least substantially normal to the plane of the adjacent face of the tongue, said plate engaging means being inclined transversely of the tongue and having the lower end thereof disposed to lie substantially in the plane of the adjacent face of the tongue and having the upper end thereof disposed to lie substantially in the plane of the upper face of said lip.

2. A printing device of the kind described comprising a frame formed from sheet material and having retaining members on one face thereof affording a channel into which a printing plate of predetermined thickness may be passed to be held against the adjacent face of the frame and also against movement on said face in a direction normal to the channel into which the same is inserted, an embossable printing plate disposed in said channel, other retaining means on the frame at each end of the channel engaged with opposite ends of said plate to retain the same in the channel against longitudinal movement therein and which comp-rise at least one yieldable tongue formed in the frame, said tongue having a stepped portion at the free end thereof that includes a part which extends angularly upwardly from the adjacent face of the tongue at an obtuse angle thereto and to an extent at least substantialy equal to the adjacent end portion of the plate, a lip disposed outwardly of said part that is extended in substantially parallel relation with the main portion of the tongue, and plate engaging abutments having the side edges thereof severed from the material of which the tongue is formed and struck from said upwardly extending part of the tongue to project inwardly from said lip, said abutments having the free ends thereof disposed at least substantially normal to the plane of the adjacent face of the tongue, each such abutment being inclined transversely of the tongue and having the lower end thereof disposed to lie substantially in the plane of the adjacent face of the tongue and having the upper `elldihereofbdspesed to lie subtantally in the plneof the upper; faceAof said lip.

References Citedin the le of this patent 8 Gollwitzer Nov. 6, 1934 Gullwtzerv Apr; 26,. 1938 Hueber Aug. 12,1947 `I-Iu'eb-:n ,1 Aug, 12, 1947 Hueber Feb. 20, 1951 

